Standhardinger wins King of the Beach

True to his word, Christian Standhardinger won the Hawaii basketball team’s “King of the Beach” competition on Saturday at Waikiki Beach.

Standhardinger, a junior forward, edged senior Hauns Brereton to reverse the top finishing positions of a year ago. Brereton took the title last year, and Standhardinger vowed to his mother that he would return to take the crown in 2012.

“It feels amazing,” Standhardinger said. “Last year I lost by one point against Hauns … I told my mom on the tape that I would get it this year, I promised her.”

The King of the Beach competition has become the annual end to preseason conditioning for the Warriors. It features various strength and conditioning drills in the soft sand at Waikiki.

This year’s competition consisted of 15 drills, including sand sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, various relays, a long jump and a weighted-ball toss.

“It’s a little bit about bringing out the fifth grader in me,” said head coach Gib Arnold, who created the drills. “Just having some fun – something we all did at one time or another when you grow up near the beach. I tried to make it hard, but fun at the same time.”

Standhardinger said he put in extra beach time this summer in preparation for the competition. While most of the other Warriors returned home during the summer months, Standhardinger – who is from Germany – stayed in Honolulu. He was quick to credit teammate Jace Tavita for training with him this summer.

As the new King of the Beach, Standhardinger received the perpetual koa bowl trophy, which he gets to display above his locker throughout the season. Bill Amis won the inaugural competition in 2010, and Brereton won it last year. Upon presenting the trophy to Standhardinger, Brereton said: “Put it above your locker and kiss it before each game.”

Brereton won the final drill of the day – an elaborate concoction that awarded more points than any of the other drills – but it still wasn’t enough to make up the difference.

“I think it was the beginning, he beat me on the first couple,” Brereton said. “I took a little bit longer to get going, but Christian came out and he was there. He was ready – good competitor.”

Freshman Michael Harper placed third. “I thought Harper had a good chance – he was my dark horse,” Arnold said. “But those upper classmen are a little bit smarter and some of those events that they know how to do, they have an edge.”

Among the other Warriors who fared well were Brandon Jawato, Jace Tavita, Davis Rozitis and Dyrbe Enos. Perhaps most impressive, every player that participated in the competition scored.

“We take a photo of them the first day of class with their shirt off and we weigh them and get the body fat and do all their testing,” Arnold said. “And just in the photos alone you can start to see these guys starting to get ripped and getting bigger, stronger, faster, and that’s what this first season is all about.”

Senior center Vander Joaquim observed the competition with a brace on his right knee. Here is a quick interview with him:

: king of the beach..Michael Harper says Christian.Hauns, Christian and Michael going head to head to win King Of The Beach..as for chemistry, young guys and older ones..Christian says they are bonding..freshman working really hard and together..could be a surprise team in MBB this year!!

If guys working that hard, and really coming together as TEAM…UH MBB can win a bunch of games..!!

Congratulations Christian..now translate that effort to regular season, control emotions and lead team to victories!!

Hey great to see Vander and video interview..young guy is ready to heal rehab and rock and roll..love his attitude..Get well , speedy recovery Vander..with other Bigs stepping up, when you come back..team should be solid up front!!

Thanks for answering the early-morning call, Dayton. Great video. Gotta love Stanhardinger’s competitiveness. We know he’ll bring that to the court, too. Props to Gib for coming up with the beach workouts. A grueling, but fun way to ramp up the conditioning. (Did I see someone writhing on the sand after the survivor run?). Nice update on Vander; love his attitude, too.

Congrats to Christian he almost took out the coach at 1:20 lol I was rooting for Hauns to repeat though since it’s his senior year.
I am very impressed with the hottie from Down under coming in third as a freshmen and as a walk on he will give Christian a run for his money next year with Hauns gone.

I was very impressed with all of them – however I think that Issac is fair game for next year – the way he took Michael out at 3.48 in the survivor race was pretty impressive!!!
Michael – better up your game mate!!!

hey, you the guy who are born to play hard all the time, ’cause “hard” is part of your surname.
lost by 1, won by 5, you made a 6 points improvement. a winning margin we’ll love to have for 85-90% of the total games we play this season.

~ the system is beginning to gain momentum, a credit earned by the TEAM (coaches + players).
~ Hauns, you are the most gracious Prince to accept the award; you are a great sport who knows what’s better for the TAEM.
~ the darkhorse role surprised nobody, especially to Michael Harper.
~ Davis did well of mainteaining his balance in the Long Jump.
~ Dressler, Pavlovic & Clair, they really resembling “3 brothers” (the pillars of the TEAM’s foundation).
~ King Christian, remind your Mom to attend the upcoming DHC tournament as your reward for fulfilling your promise for winning >>> introduce her to us for the 1st time!?

you’re so kind to encouraging again, to my careless-optimistic way of poking fun & urging these “Akamai 16”, hard-working wonderful young men on toward a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make this season a memorable one.

UH MBB hasn’t been this exciting for a long while.. I’m enjoying the current situation immensely (eg: the increasing number of positive posters. interest in buying season tickets.. )

as long as “Captain Gib” is steering that righted-ship; keep-on getting the “fit” sailors to harmonize with the current crew. (they know they’re in the right boat), they’ll likely to enjoy the journey all the way.. Mansu! Mansu!

you smart young ladies, if you help to make them feel “Welcome”.. some of them might never leave!?

I enjoy this team because top to bottom they understand the team concept. Everyone works hard for the good of the team. A great team does not necessarily have to be filled with top 100 recruits (although one or two would help). I would take an (unknown) Anthony Carter-type player any day over five star players with character problems. It starts with believing in the coaches and in each other. Everyone working for the common good of the team. And when you got everyone on the same page great things will happen. I hope that UH MBB will, in the not too distant future, be known as a disciplined team more than a team loaded with raw talent but lacking discipline. With this year’s team I think we are on our way. Coaches will make you work like you never did before but believe in them and do exactly as they say and you (and fans) will reap the rewards.

everybody please read servante’s post, 10/1/2012 @1:23pm, he made it easy for you, spelled out why you’re in Hawaii for! make some copies in case someone ask you this question, just hand him a copy of it..

I’m sure you already knew all of these but, just in case you want to be totally complete, this could be quite handy! or could serve as a daily reminder as well.